let's play a game
by rangerdanger985
Summary: Captain America. That name inspired many things since his disappearance and assumed death 70 years ago. but now they finally broke the code they had a new serum. now they needed someone to use it on. Enter Elizabeth stark, older sister to tony stark. A brilliant woman with a weak heart, she is chosen to be the next Captain. That is, if she accepts it. (i suck as summaries lol)
1. Chapter 1

When Elizabeth was born no one thought she'd amount to much of anything, especially not her father Howard, but that was mostly because she was a girl and he wanted a son.

Elizabeth was born with several health problems, she had been born a month early and with fluid in her lungs leading to asthma and severe allergies, her heart was weak and something was wrong with her eyes, she would need glasses before her twenty's, Howard didn't seem to happy about her but he was appeased when he had his second child, tony.

Just from the short time she had spent with her father, she tried to keep his aggravation mostly toured her and not her little brother, who was two years younger than her, but she supposed some of her disobedience rubbed off on tony, he started grasping for his father's approval but also staying away from him as much as possible, Howard didn't seem to mind.

Elizabeth knew her father wasn't really as mean and uncaring as people thought, he was just bad with emotions, and didn't know how to communicate; he pushed them to be their best even though he did it the wrong way sometimes, or in the wrong fashion, always comparing them to someone from the war captain America.

She would admit openly that just as many of those posters in the room she and tony shared belonged to her as they did to him, he was their idol when they were young, they were always acting out scenes from the comic books.

But those were just stories in her mind now.

Howard and their mother died in a car wreck when tony was 14 and she was 16, tony had been left at home because he was sick for once instead of her, they had been on their way back from a gala, something she hated but was forced to attend.

A car collided with theirs and all she remembered was a heavy weight and pain, she was the only one to survive and then just barely.

Two months later when she woke up from a coma her chest felt strange and heavy, the crash had damaged her already weak heart and sent her into heart failure, and it was a miracle she had survived.

She found out why a few hours after waking up, Howard had made up for everything he'd done wrong the only way he could by covering her body with his own taking to brunt of the crash, he mother had died instantly the collision having been on the passenger side, she had been strapped in on the same side and he in the last second had flown over the seats and put himself between her and the oncoming car.

She was told his last words had been 'save her'. She yelled raged and screamed until her throat was bloody and they had to sedate her, she felt tony crying on her shoulder as she let the darkness take her.

As the years passed she grew to accept it the only way she knew how, she encored it, focused on taking care of her little brother, even if she couldn't care for herself, as time went by her condition got worst instead of better, she had almost no immunity system, her heart was so weak it barely sustained her.

She knew she was going to die before she was 30, the doctors only gave her until 23, but she never did what she was told.

On one of her regular doctors' visits to see how much more her health had degraded and where they'd tell her to stop the parties drinking and everything else fun, she was left in the room after a nurse had looked at a chart, her normal checkup finished, she hated how weekly she had to go to those places and sometimes stay for a few days, she always wound up sick afterward or having an asthma attack.

20 minutes after the nurse left and she was thinking of bailing a woman walked in, she wore plane but nice clothing and Elizabeth had never seen her before, since she had been on a first name basis with nearly half the hospital and social with the rest it was strange.

The woman offered her a fix to her problems, a solution to her weak body, the woman was old, but the light in her eyes, a kind of recognition that Elizabeth had never seen before compelled her to agree that and the way tony had clung to her just a few years ago when she returned from yet another stint at the hospital the worst of all of them that had left her nearly dead and broken down saying he couldn't lose her to, she had promised she wouldn't, that shed do whatever she had to.

She was going to keep that promise.


	2. Chapter 2

Her condition was as good as It was ever going to get so a car came to pick up her and her brother, no matter what she asked they didn't answer her, so she just sat back while tony looked around outside the window, they had never been to this part of the town.

They stopped outside an old building that looked like an antique shop and once they got out of the car they were greeted by a man in a suit he was an agent for what she had no idea and didn't really care, they were lead inside and down a passage way hidden behind a book case.

Tony thought they were going to get murdered and she rolled her eyes "I never should have let you watch that movie" she said as they were lead into what looked like a mix between a lab, a hospital, and a power plant.

Tony was intrigued by the machines but she recognized some of them from a long time ago.

The woman from before approached her, she was withered and had gray hair but she appeared in better heath then most her age she reached out with one hand "miss stark, how are you feeling today"

She shook the woman's hand and raised a brow "like crap, the usual" she turned her face to cough in her elbow.

"If you hadn't been going to so many parties you wouldn't feel like that"

The reprimand made her brother smirk at her from where he stood a full head and shoulders taller than her thin frame even if he was only 22, she didn't bother pointing out she was also trying to keep an eye on him.

"We have something we want you to do, this won't be easy, and it will take time but in the end you will be better for it" the woman she still hadn't caught the name of held out a file she flipped it open and skimmed

"What is it?"

"We've been working on a formula for a long time, we might have finally cracked it and we believe you will be the perfect person for it, for the next few years were going to be giving your body doses of a serum that will make you stronger so you'll be able to survive the final infusion"

Elizabeth looked up brows risen weary of the deadline shed been given and passed "how long is a few years? Remember doctors say I should have been dead three years ago" the old woman smiled "we don't know yet that will depend on you"

She glanced over at her brother who looked back at her and shrugged but she saw the hope in his eyes so she turned back to the woman "miss..." she trailed off and the woman smiled.

"Agent carter"

Elizabeth rose a brow "ok, agent carter" she held out her hand "you have a deal" the woman shook her hand and it felt like she had sealed her fate.


	3. Chapter 3

Over the next several years she was given a weekly shot, they were some type of growth hormone she didn't feel any different or even look any different but half way through the first year she got violently ill, they said it was because her body was trying to reject the serum they were giving her and that was why they had spread out the doses, it didn't make her feel any better when she couldn't move without pain, or triggering an asthma attack.

Tony wanted her to back out said it was doing her more harm than good but she knew her body, she wouldn't back out but she decided to hide the worst of it from her brother, shed still be the playboy she had become, going out to party drinking far more than one should, everything, but no matter how weak she became she held out just a little hope.

Time went on and she noticed tony starting to change, filling out with maturity and aging while she did not, her hair stayed limp and brown, her eyes remained dark and green, her body pale and small, it was like she was frozen in time.

Around the third year she started to notice herself filling out a little more, her hair not as limp, body not as frail, the days she was forced to stay down because she was sick went from 182 to 90.

Three more years and she hadn't been sick for an entire month her body didn't change but she got more energy, not as much as her brother clearly but more of a normal persons, finally after receiving one major injection once a year for almost 10 years at her weekly doctor's visits something seemed to be going wrong her health declining drastically, she felt like the crap that crapped shit on a rainy day.

When the last person she expected to see showed up at her bed side, agent carter looking older with more wrinkles her sharp eyes looked concerned at the state Elizabeth found herself in

"What's going on" she ground out from under the oxygen mask they had placed on her face "it seems we've waited too long" the woman said sadly as if so much was wasted "no" she looked up at Elizabeth who's eyes were hard "give me the last dose"

Agent carters brows furrowed "it could kill you" she said Elizabeth shook her head "if you don't I die anyway" the woman looked torn and Elizabeth felt a tear slip down her face "please, I made a promise, I can't break it" that seemed to push the woman in the right direction and finally she sighed and turned calling the nurse.

In a short time she was taken from the hospital and put into a car carrying her back to that shop, some strange machine was standing in the middle of the floor of machines despite her weakness she walked to it and sat down "remove your shirt and belt" carter said Elizabeth smirked "I don't swing your way darling"

Agent carter rolled her eyes and waited while she pulled off her shirt and then unlaced her belt from her jeans "get comfortable, this may be unpleasant" Elizabeth laid down on the cold machine situating herself in the middle of it "isn't it kind of big?" she questioned as some scientists strapped her in something flashed in the woman's eyes that she didn't recognize and decided to try and stay silent but she was nerves.

An orderly came in injected something into her arm, some type of anti-inflammatory thing and then two pieces of metal folded over her chest strange cuffs folding over her biceps before moving away agent carter looked at her "you don't have to go to the bathroom do you"

With a smirk Elizabeth looked at her "to late even if I did"

She didn't watch as some strange vials were put into the machine and then it started whirring and she felt the sharp bite of needles in her arms she hissed muscles tensing and heart pounding wildly she felt a warm hand on her arm and glanced at agent carter then she stepped away "start the proses" she said to a scientist then flipped a lever and hit some buttons, the bed turned until it was standing up and closed around her "you alright in there?" a muffled voice asked she glanced at the glass screen "guess it's a bad time to say I'm claustrophobic huh?" a laugh answered her and then things started to get bright and her body felt weird, at first it was just strange and then it became painful, her body left like the very cells were being torn apart rubbed with acid and a wire brush coated in salt and then put back in the wrong places.

She openly admitted that she screamed, she herd muttered about stopping and her eyes shot open in the blinding light thinking about her brother about her promise and gritted her teeth "don't, stop" she demanded Since it didn't and the feeling of being ripped apart and put back together continued to increases she guessed than the listened.

Seconds stretched on for what felt like an eternity until finally it stopped and she went slack, the air that had tasted stale with her sweat rushing out when the machine opened and she stumbled forward body aching.

Agent carter caught her as she stumbled and she was smiling again "congratulations, doctor erskine's formula was recreated perfectly" she furrowed her brows and looked at the woman, recognizing the name then suddenly realized she had to look down, not up. "How are you feeling?" she asked when she was silent looking around with a strange expression "taller" she said smirking a little then looked at her "I feel taller" memory sparked in the woman's eyes again and she wished she knew what it was about.


	4. Chapter 4 (begining of actual story)

Elizabeth grace stark or just Beth was never great with following orders.

After receiving the treatment that fixed her body and made her stronger she adamantly refused to work where the woman agent carter worked, instead preferring to stay by her younger brother tony.

After the treatment Beth's dark brown hair had lightened to an amber color and instead of being limp it was wavy, her once dark and brooding green eyes had changed to a shamrock color with a ring of brown around the pupil making her eyes seem almost hazel.

She had also grown so now she was the same height as her brother instead of shorter than him by a foot and a half, she teased her brother about actually having grown larger than him by an inch but JARVIS had actually proven they were the exact same height down to the inch.

She played down the stories in the paper about her doing plastic surgery and all that BS instead choosing to live the high life with her brother and keep him mostly out of trouble, though she found she was unable to get drunk she didn't care though she did look it up in the file, supposedly her metabolism burned twice as fast as normal.

While the serum was enough to fix her major health issues like her immunity and her defective heart, it didn't fix everything, more often than not she still had to use her glasses to read, though it wasn't as high of a prescription anymore, and shed get headaches from time to time but using her normal glasses or sitting in a dark room for a while was enough to take care of them.

She started working with her brother at the company, while she wasn't as good or smart as him she still got a degree in engineering when she was 23.

R&D became her playground and she had fun though she didn't get real big into the weapons, she designed the armor to protect the vehicles and soldiers, and the few times tony asked for help with the weapons she didn't hide her complaints, the agent still tried to get her to join the agency she had retired from, but every time she refused.

The first time she didn't is when tony was kidnapped by the ten rings.

Rodney was just walking toured a transport when she marched up to him "not this again" he said and she glared "don't even try it platypus, he's my little brother, I'm going" she marched passed him and into the plane "you're gonna get me court marshaled!" he complained following her onto the plane "boo fucking hoo I'll buy out the general and get you reenlisted with a bump in rank" the man fell silent the asked "up or down"

She looked at her and Tony's longtime friend and smirked "depends on what mood I'm in" it didn't have as much heat as it usually did so Rodney knew she was blaming herself for what happened to her brother, thinking if she had been there shed have been able to help her brother when in reality she would have wound up just as dead as the soldiers.

She saw all this running though his mind and realized even though he knew her and tony so well he didn't know her at all.

Her brother had been gone for a month at this time, it took another two trying to find him, he was walking through the desert and the moment she saw him she bolted out of the plane even before it landed, she sank up to her calf in the sand but still ran toured her brother as he collapsed to his knees "god tony, tell me you're alright, please please please say you're ok"

Her arms surrounded her baby brother holding him tight enough she feared she hurt him, she herd him mutter some kind of affirmative and she pushed him away slightly, she wouldn't deny the tears wetting her face then she saw the blood on his shoulders "my god" she whispered.

He pulled her hand away "you should see the other guys" he joked weakly she sniffed and pulled him close again their hands still trapped between them as she held on for dear life.


	5. Chapter 5

Her stubborn ass brother refused the wheel chair when they landed instead choosing to walk down the lowered cargo ramp gripping her hand so tight his knuckles were white Rodney haunted their steps and she didn't mind one bit, it meant her brother was better protected.

Tony and pepper exchanged words and then he called a press conference, she didn't know what her brother had seen but she guessed it was horrible she saw the way his eyes darted around when they were alone.

After announcing that they were all sat or crouched down she refused, standing at her brothers back glowering at anyone that looked at him wrong and when he announced that they would no longer be creating weapons she put aside a mental note to ask about it then covered her brother's exit "as the majority shareholder my brother and I came to this decision and I stand behind it, if you have any questions you can direct them to our office and we will get back to you in time but as of today stark industries no longer takes place in the arms race, thank you all for coming today and have a safe trip home"

She followed the path her brother had taken as she herd the third wheel obadia talking trying to make it less apparent that this was a hair brain decision and there had been no discussion.

She found her brother in the factory looking at the arc reactor "so" she said as she leaned again the rail beside him

"So..."

She watched him for a minute "you gonna tell me what happened? Or what that glow is under your shirt?" she questioned.

Her brother heaved a heavy sigh then looked at her she knew that look she wasn't going to like what was about to be said "nothing good, I was caught in an explosion on the way back to the base, by one of our weapons, shrapnel decided it wanted to take a better look at my insides, not all of it got taken out" she gaped at her brother it was a very lousy summary of what happened but shed make due "what, are you alright?" he turned to face her "that's where the glow comes in, I will be so long as I have this" he unbuttoned his shirt enough to show a glowing circle she immediately recognized

"My god tony" she reached out to touch the skin just outside of the metal circle in her baby brother's chest "it's an arc reactor?" she questioned and he nodded "its keeping the shrapnel out of my heart"

She looked straight in her brothers brown eyes to see if he was joking and saw he wasn't she breathed out a curse and threw her arms around him fingers in his hair "I can't believe how close I came to losing you" she whispered and felt him smile against her shoulder.

"seriously Lizzy I'm good now, this is what we need to do" she looked at him pulling back "whatever you decide I stand behind you tony, you know I got your back" he smiled widely at her "I know"

Why did she have a sudden uneasy feeling about the glint in her brother's eyes?

Two weeks went by until tony came to her asking her for help she smiled pushing her glasses up her face "I was wondering when you'd come to me" she stood putting down her papers and walked ahead of him to the work shop

"JARVIS bring up the file in my server labeled h-183 please" the file popped up in midair photos and schematics glowing in the hologram "and open the mark 2 as well" she could hear tony sputtering

"You knew?!" he finally demanded and she turned and smiled at her brother "I'm your older sister, I know everything"

This was why after his first test flight in full suit a month after they started working together she yelled at him for an hour.


	6. Chapter 6

She was forced to attend Tony's fund for the fire something or other she was horrible with names she was also forced to wear an evening gown from the very back of her closet something that made her look human before the transfusion but like a super modal after.

She quite enjoyed the race she and tony had with two Ferrari's and she enjoyed the way peoples jaws dropped upon seeing her even more, no she wasn't vain at all but it was nice to see people react.

She headed straight for the bar once she got passed the doors and a man was there waiting for her "miss stark" she looked at him confused and made a not very intelligent sounding uhhh noise

"Agent Coulson, we've met before" he held out a hand and she shook it

"Yeah I remember, I guess you want to put me to work?" the man barely twitched his lips in a smile "something like that yes"

The next time she saw tony he had created a new element, their house was destroyed, they had an entire tower for a home, and he had a girlfriend...

She didn't know which one surprised her most.

When she found his girlfriend was pepper she was defiantly more surprised by that.

First arriving back at the tower she smiled at her brother who had yet to notice her, she walked along the landing platform smiling all the while steps near silent despite the heavy metal that surrounded her.

Once she was close she raised her hands "reach for the skies" her brother jumped at her sudden voice spinning around and then he laughed "hey! Welcome home" he said and she grinned at him as he came from behind the bar and she hugged him

"I heard our old place is a little waterlogged, what happened? You decide to tell them our address and piss em off" when he glanced away she stopped laughing "really tony? You piss someone off then challenge them to come after you?" she didn't know whether to be amused or exasperated so she settled for both

"Hey I had it under control" just then pepper came from somewhere "tell her about the speedster incident"

Beth's greeting was cut short and she looked at him one brow raised "speedster, incident?" he looked novice for a moment "anyway where have you been? It's been what a year since we've seen you?"

It was a horrible change of subject but she made a mental note and rolled with it "year and a half, I been bouncing back and forth between new genie and England for a while, but SHIELD no longer needs a lap dog to fix their toys so I'm back" she slumped onto a bar stool "really?" he asked and she nodded "yep" she popped the p then looked at pepper.

"So tell me about this roadster incident" tony groaned.

He told her all about it and everything else that had happened as he led her down to his personal lab, aka their lab.

"So I'm gone a day and you start a miniature war with a jet and then destroy the arc reactor? Swear to god I just need to stop leaving you alone, and what's this whole house fell into the sea thing?" her brother rubbed the back of his neck "yeah well, that's what happen when missiles hit it"

She stared at him and blinked a couple of times then dropped her face into her hand "I need to stop leaving you alone"

He looked at her with a little brothers indignity "keep that up I might just regret saving this" he made a motion toured a part of the lab and she looked then her eyes went wide In a case was what had started to become her own suit but she'd been forced to stop making because she was being run around by SHIELD so shed had to make due, "holy hell, you finished it?" she questioned walking up and around the suit.

She stared in wonder as he explained what all he'd done to it.

Unlike his armor hers didn't have to be as thick because it didn't need to protect her as much, the serum shed been dosed with made her hardier, even if she still got hot or cold easily.

Her suit didn't have an arc reactor so it couldn't store much in the way of weapons it was more for protection, like her brothers suit it covered a large amount of her body, made of a Kevlar like material with flexible metal plates attached to it.

She had the same repulsers on her boots as her brother but her hands were free he said he'd adjusted them so they weren't needed, she didn't really need them anyway but she didn't tell him that.

The upper part of her face was covered in a helm with a visor that she could choose to be clear or tented, a bottom part that covered the rest of her face deployable at any time.

It was discreet but the suit also had pockets where she could stick a few gadgets that would help in a fight she had a laser or two in her gauntlets but other than that she didn't have a need for any weapons other than maybe a couple of knives.

To say she was excited to put it on was a understatement, dropping the makeshift gear shed been using she stepped up and donned her armor it took less than 2 minutes and she shifted once it was on feeling the way it shifted.

It felt like coming home to an old friend she looked through the display "JARVIS, you with me buddy?" she questioned the display flashed slightly and a few different icons came up on the left hand corner "always miss" the AI said in her ear "upload my personal preferences please" the default icons switched and readings came up on the inside apparently that's the only place they were visible "What say we take this pony for a ride?" she looked at her brother already in his ironman armor and grinned "you sure you can handle being shown up?" he laughed "give it your best shot" his repulsers fired and he shot off through to tunnel she looked at the display "what do you say JARVIS? Should I kick his ass?"

"you are undoubtedly the older sibling miss" she grinned and flexed her feet felt the repulsers whir to life and lift her off the ground then she turned and shot off out through the tunnel and shot strait passed her brother who'd been waiting on her.

She looked back at her brother, visor tenting and mouth being covered by the rest and grinned from behind it "come on slow poke, don't let an old woman show you up!" he rocketed up to her but she managed to stay just ahead testing out the new suit and grinned as she and her brother raced around new York and laughed.

It felt like she was finally home.

She ignored the feeling of something missing


	7. Chapter 7

It was two months before one agent Coulson came to the tower, she was just getting out of the shower hair still wet and tony and pepper were sitting with a glass of wine each.

"hello Phil" she greeted moving passed to pick up a bottle from behind the bar tony looked at her weird "um his first name is agent" agent Coulson looked at her "hello Beth, Mr. stark we have something we need you to look over"

The man held out an object and tony sputtered trying to get him to leave but she could tell he was giving up she walked over and snatched up the computer like device "he doesn't like being handed things" she said rolling her eyes and turned away walking toured a desk she opened it and looked at the files inside.

She barely heard tony grilling Coulson about the avengers she was more concerned by the items on the screen profiles "tony, got a sec" she questioned and herd her brother approaching "now I know why Phil's shaken" her brother gave her a look "ok why is he Phil and why are you Beth?" she glanced at him "long story, pepper, take the jet tonight" she said to the woman who walked up to look at the screen just as Beth dragged the files onto the holographic screens around them expanding gunshot sounds filled the air along with yelling.

Tony was trying to argue but pepper told him something she didn't want to know anything about she was too busy reviewing the files one in particular "what?" her brother asked knowing the look on her face he'd seen it only once before, she glanced at him hen enlarged the file she was looking at "now I know why I recognized the name Erskine" she was looking at Steve rogers aka captain Americas file.

"What they gave him, they gave you?" he asked and she nodded slowly "they gave me one created from his blood, it took them 70 years to perfect it" if that wasn't a head trip she didn't know what was.

She threw herself into the files until her head hurt so bad even with her glasses she couldn't stand to look at a computer screen anymore, since she received the serum she had become stronger but she had also gained a better memory so she remembered almost every single detail she read, when a separate screen doing a trace for Loki beeped alerting them to his location she and her brother both marched to the lab and donned their suits. It was time to kick some azgardians ass.

While she herself didn't get to go she heard plenty about it from her brother when he arrived limping his armor on of the repulsers malfunctioning she rolled her eyes chewed him out for getting into a pissing contest with a 'GOD' and then went to the main deck of the hellicarrier as thor was telling them Loki was his brother.

She paused and looked at the god before placing her hands on her hips "he killed 80 people in 2 days, I've herd of dysfunctional family's but damn" everyone looked at her "he's adopted?"

She snorted and went to one of the monitors just as her brother came in "what do the need iridium for?" Bruce was asking "it's a stabilizing agent" tony said then turned to agent Coulson and she rolled her eyes "it's to keep the portal from collapsing like it did at shield" she explained watching her brother closely he said something to thor but she didn't catch it she sighed and rubbed her forehead she was starting to get a headache "also makes it so the portal can stay open as wide and as long as Loki wants"

Suddenly tony pointed at something "that man is playing galiga he thought we wouldn't notice but we did" he looked to the left "I'm sorry how dose fury even see these?"

Beth turned toured her brother "he turns, don't screw with anything please?" she asked he waved a hand at her and she collapsed into a chair with a sigh she knew he wouldn't listen to her

"The rest of the raw materials needed agent Barton can get his hands on pretty easily" she said rubbing her eyes "only thing left he needs is a power source of high energy density something to kick start the cube"

Agent hill a woman Beth had met only a few times before was looking very unimpressed "when did you become an expert in thermonuclear astrophysics?" she turned to the woman and propped up her feet on another chair "last night, stayed up forever looking at that crap, notes theory papers" tony walked up beside her "are we the only ones to do the reading?" she thumped him in the stomach

"Does he need any specific kind of power source?" Mr. High and mighty captain America asked

"he'd have to heat the cube to 120 million kelvin just to breath though the coulomb barrier" Bruce said "unless selvig knows how to stabilize the quantum tunneling effect" tony said approaching the man "if he knew how to do that he could achieve heavy ion fusion at any reactor on the planet" tony was happy saying he finally found someone who spoke English "is that what just happened?" rogers muttered to himself "well yeah" that made the capsicle look at her and she had to admit, he didn't look as frost bitten as she thought he would "you weren't in the briefing who are you" he asked she rolled her eyes then turned and looked at him "it's a long story babe"

Just about that time fury walked in so she couldn't enjoy the faint reddening of his cheeks and soon after she was sent with her brother and Bruce to do science which meant they were being sciency and she was repairing her brothers suit.

Oh what a wonderful life she lead being the repair man.


	8. Chapter 8

A couple of hours passed before captain douche came to check on them just as tony was being an ass and he got a little bit upset "can't you control him?"

She turned to Steve "I'm his sister not his mother ice for brains, I couldn't control him even if I wanted to"

"So you'd rather put the safety of everyone on this ship in danger? No offence doc" Steve glanced at Bruce "its fine I wouldn't have come aboard if I couldn't handle pointy things"

"tony don't stab your coworkers" she snapped at him "Instead of playing around you should be focusing on the problem" she stood up and pushed at the captains shoulder "I'm sorry do you think we aren't? We're not in here playing computer games cap and we don't even know what the hell were working with yet"

Tony jumped in before she could get to pissed "we can't solve a problem without all of the variables" Steve looked between them "you think fury's hiding something?" she rolled her eyes with an exasperated sound and moved away from the larger man "he is THE spy not just a spy, his secrets have secrets, its bugging all of us even him" she nodded toured Bruce who sputtered about denials

"doc" he looked at her then Steve and tony and sighed "a warm light for all mankind to share Loki's jab at fury about the cube, I think it was meant for them" Bruce pointed at Beth and tony tony held out his pilfered bag of blue berries as she put pieces together "even if Barton didn't tell the whack job about the tower it was all over the news" she looked at her brother

"the stark tower that big ugly" when her and Tony's eyes shot to him he rephrased the twitching of his lips smoothed by force "building in new York?" she rolled her eyes and brought out a sandwich from her bag she was starving and she just listened to them argue until she herd 'breaking into all of shields secure files' Her head shot up and she bolted at her brother "what the hell" he spoke over her and the captain "Jarvis has been running it since I hit the bridge in a few hours I'll know every dirty secret shield has ever tried to hide, blueberry?" he offered to Steve as she groaned and rubbed her face "yet your confused why they didn't want you two around"

Her head shot to the side "don't you dare group me in with this hair brained plot, what the hell are you thinking tony?" she demanded he looked at her unimpressed "it's an intelligence organization that fears intelligence historically not awesome"

She groaned again "I think Loki's trying to wind us up, he's trying to start a war and if we don't focus he'll succeed we have orders we should follow them" she raked back her hair "followings not really my style" tony said

She turned to Bruce hating their arguing "their giving me a headache" she told the man who grunting in agreement "your all about style aren't you, both of you" she glanced back but stayed quiet "of the people here which one is A; wearing a spangly outfit and B; not of use" she turned back around "you can't tell us none of this smells funky to you"

He looked at them then just turned "just find the cube" and he walked out about 1 minute later she also left but she was in search of food, she hated her metabolism sometimes.

After some food she wound up finding someplace to take a nap, she'd been up for almost two days and despite her better system and stronger body she still got tired sometimes, surprisingly so.

She was jerked awake by a very bad feeling and got up rushing to the lab everyone was arguing but the one between her brother and steve seemed worst "big man in a suit of armor take that off what are you, or your sister!" tony turned toured the man "genius billionaire playboy philanthropist" he said they were the only ones arguing now everyone else stopped to watch "I know guys with none of that, worth ten of both of you" Steve glanced up to include her "and I've seen the footage she was nowhere to be seen and all you fought for is yourself neither of you are the ones to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you"

She could see her brother getting angry even she was getting angry "I think I'd just cut the wire" Steve tilted his head a little "always a way out, ya know you might not be a threat but you both better stop pretending to be heroes" she started to step forward "heroes? Like you? You're a laboratory experiment Rogers everything special about you came out of a bottle"

When something made a loud crashing noise they all looked at Beth who had her head bowed but one hand had smashed into a solid steel cabinet and made it buckle, she was shaking and her breathing was jagged her brother started to say her name but she cut him off

"Is that what you think? Everything special came from a bottle" tony seemed to realize what he said wrong "wait Lizzy I didn't" she lunged and graved him by the shirt shoving rogers out of the way "that bottle is the only reason I'm standing here today, I'm no hero I know that, I don't want to be a hero, I only ever wanted to stay with you"

Her voice had become deathly quiet so much so even her brother could barely hear it "I made you a promise when we were still children, now I see how much it means to you" she dropped him from where she'd been holding him a couple inches off the ground

"you need to calm down" she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned shoving Steve away "and you need to step the fuck off, your way isn't the only way for these things to get done, it isn't the forties anymore, your way is outdated" he stepped up to her "put on the suit and we'll see which ones better" he challenged "I aint scared to hit an old man you sure you want to hit a woman?!" she challenged as something beeped "put on the suit" he said again then suddenly something exploded

She was weightless for a moment felt the heat and the force and then she landed hard something on top of her, with her ears ringing she glanced up at a star and saw Steve roll off of her groaning then he looked at her "put on the suit!" she scrambled to her feet "yeah" she tripped and felt his hands on her waist and arm the moment she was steady she took off

Getting down to the storage level she looked at Steve "level three we'll meet you there" she told him as tony opened the crate and he took off "listen" tony started as she reached for her suit "later" she said as it strapped on and then shot off.

"stark I'm here!" Steve shouted as they flew out "good, tony get the cooling unit back on line while I deal with the debris see if I can jerry rig the rotter" she said he jerked his head and she looked at Steve "Steve get to that control panel and tell us which ones are in overload position" she ordered he jumped while she went into the turbine using the lasers on her arms to clear the debris there was a lot of it.

"What's it look like in there?" she asked after silence rained "it seems to run on some form of electricity" he replied and she rolled her eyes "we'll you aint wrong" she muttered and get to work, she herd Steve asking about what to do next but she was distracted "even with the debris gone this thing wont reengage without a jump" tony said from beside her "I'm gonna have to give it a push" she said tony jerked and looked at her

"If that thing gets up to speed you'll get shredded" Steve seemed to speak her brother's thoughts "the stator control unit can reverse" he cut her off "speak English!" she rolled her eyes fondly "see the red lever? It'll slow them down long enough for her to get out stand by it wait for our word"

When finally she cleared the debris she shifted hearing the hulk going nuts and looked at her brother "I got this! Go help with the hulk, engines won't matter if everything else is wrecked" he nodded "be careful" she grunted and he moved away

"stark were losing altitude" fury said after a few minutes "working on it!" she yelled and placed her hands against a rotter "Jarvis max power" she said and started to push she felt she wasn't going anywhere at first then finally it started to move "come on jar I need more!" she yelled "max power ma'am" he announced and then a moment later she herd it whirring to life but no time to celebrate

"Cap hit the lever"

"I'm gonna need a sec here" she cursed and tried to keep up "lever. now!" she cried no reply then suddenly the rotter started pulling away from her "uh-oh" she said just before she got sucked in being ground between the bottom and middle she felt pain "help!" she yelped and groaned as her armor sparked then she was falling "Jarvis" the boots kicked back on and disoriented she flew into a hole and into a bad guy trying to shoot Steve her helm retracted and she groaned softly in pain

Then she heard the bad news.

Coulson was dead.


	9. Chapter 9

"Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea, in heroes"

Unable to deal with furys speech she pushed herself away from the table and walked away her brother looking after her sadly "well" he said to her retreating back

"It's an old fashioned notion"

She was sitting on the ledge where the hulks cell use to be staring at nothing when the captain found her

"Was he married?" he questioned she glanced up "dunno, didn't know him to well, I think he said something about a cellist"

Silence for a moment "I'm sorry, he seemed like a good man"

She snorted openly and rose to her feet "he was an idiot" she said turning "for believing?" Steve demanded "for fighting a god alone!" Steve kept a steady gaze on her "he was doing his job"

She twisted her lips "I was only doing my job to protect my baby brother and we see where that got me! Thinks I'm a fucking lab experiment." His brow furrowed in confusion "what do you mean?" she looked at him "long story short I'm the closest they ever came to making another you baby" she saw his face go slightly red again and enjoyed that shed embarrassed him.

"Anyway Phil was out of his league and should have waited" Steve came around to stand in front of her

"sometimes there isn't a way out" she snorted to herself snapping her fingers as she stepped passed him "right herd that someplace before" she started to leave "this the first time you lost a soldier?"

She spun and next thing she knew her hand was caught in his shirt "we are not soldiers!"

Her voice echoed around the room and she saw her hand was shaking she took a step away from the man "I'm not marching to fury's beat" she said lower "neither am I he has the same blood on his hands as Loki dose" she looked over at the tall blonde man "but right now we have to put that behind us and get this done"

She zoned out her brain starting to work as she looked at the blood stain "he made it personal" she said and heard Steve sigh "that's not the point" she looked back at him pieces fitting together even as she looked at him "that is the point that's Loki's point, he hit us at home why?" she asked

"To tear us apart"

She bit at her thumb nail "that's the thing divide and concurs well and good but, he didn't take us out, he knows he has to do that to win, that's what he wants, he's a drama queen he wants to beat us and be seen doing it" she pulled her hand away shaking a finger "he wants an audience" Steve looked at her trying to follow along "you should have seen his act in Stuttgart" he said she waved a hand "that was just a sneak peek, a preview, this is the big show, and Loki's a fucking diva I mean" she turned from her walking to look at Steve "he wants flowers and parades he wants a fucking monument built to the skies with his name plastered-"

She stopped mid rant the final piece clicking into place "sonuvabitch" she said as Steve just looked at her in confusion

She followed her brother ahead of the others to the tower, her suit limping, she hadn't had a chance to repair it yet and it was malfunctioning boots randomly shutting down

Then she pulled a tony move and tried to fight a god which wound up with her being thrown out a window and tony being awesome and giving her a new suit he'd been working on without telling her, it was a little tight on the chest.

But then, of course, all hell broke loose for real.

She and her brother tried to stem the tide but there were so many of them, to many.

They fought she didn't know for how long they fought, it could have been hours or minutes or days.

More than once she swooped down and helped those stuck on the ground after they arrived then she was shot down landing hard and cursed but kept fighting.

When tony brought along a huge ugly slug and the hulk who had just arrived smashed it she wasn't looking forward to getting covered in alien guts but surprisingly she wasn't a quick glance showed her Steve had ducked behind her shield up she encored it other than a nod of recognition because apparently killing their mother worm really pissed them off.

They stood back to back more than ready for what happened until they saw what was coming; even her brother must have been desperate because he asked Steve for guidance.

The fight went on, and never had they worked so well together her, her brother and Steve, but they were starting to get tired, they were coming to fast, they couldn't hold them.

Her brother was surrounded, Hawkeye down for at least a few minutes out of arrows, the hulk was even being overpowered, Thor was running out of juice, and the captain took a shop to the stomach, it seemed hopeless.

Going to save her brother she held her breath and started to pray for something, she didn't know what but something to help them.

She got her answer but it was from the worst place, a nuke was heading for the city.

"stark can you hear me?" fury called "what?" tony demanded as they fought off trying to be able to fly "you have a missile heading straight for the city" she punched an alien "how long?" she asked "3 minutes max the payload will wipe out midtown"

Her brother grunted when an alien hit his helm pushing him back down

"Jarvis all the juice to the thrusters!" she demanded "I just did" he told them and they shot off.

"I can close it can anybody copy?" came a static filled voice of Natasha "I can shut the portal down!"

"Do it!" the captain said "no wait!" tony said "stark these things are still coming" Steve replied "and we have a nuke coming in it'll blow in less than a minute!" they changed course so they were right on the missile "and we know just where to put it" she added as they both latched onto the missile

"stark you know that's a one way trip" Steve said after a short pause "aw you worried about us baby?, Jarvis save some for the turn" she said Jarvis asked if he should try to call pepper and she made a decision as they got close she swirled around "I'm sorry" she said and shoved her boot into her brothers face making him let go and disorienting him she took his place "what are you doing!" he demanded and she smiled

"It's my choice, I know what I have to do" the portal was like a darkness sucking her in "I'm sorry I couldn't keep my promise"

"give em hell" tony said voice wavering "you know I-" the line went dead as everything was suddenly silent, and cold, her eyes wide open she stared at what had to be the mother ship and millions more of those aliens she couldn't move or breath and the power in her suit suddenly was no more and she started to drift.

She saw the nuke fly into the other ship, saw it detonate and silently she wondered would the blast get her first or would it be the cold or perhaps suffocation she closed her eyes and waited at peace.

On the ground all the aliens suddenly fell lifeless to the ground everyone staring at the sky "come on stark" Natasha breathed tony stared at the portal and let tears run down his face, no one could see anyway.

Then they saw the explosion "close it" Steve said looking away then herd something and looked up she had made it out "son of a gun" he said then they noticed something

She wasn't stopping or slowing down before any of them could try to catch her, namely her brother or Thor, hulk leaped out of nowhere and caught her coming in for a crash landing on his back keeping her protected against his chest.

Immediately tony was at her side "is she breathing?" Steve asked as tony removed her helm her hair now released some of the wind caught it, the light brown strands had been darkened with blood and she wasn't responding, her skin was ice cold.

Her brother sat there dumbly as Steve sat back on his heels the hulk seemed to be the only one to take action because he slammed on the road on either side of her and roared

Everyone seemed surprised when she gasped body going stiff "what the hell" she choked and started coughing, then tony couldn't help it and swept in and drew her into a tight hug which she complained about "your crushing me" she groaned he reeled back "what just happened? Tell me no one kissed me"

Her eyes were drawn to Steve as he sat back "we won"

She sighed and let her head fall back "yay, can we have the day off tomorrow?" she looked at her brother "you ever had shwarma? Theirs a joint not far I have no idea what it is but I want some"

"Were not done yet" she looked at Thor and sighed and pointed at her brother "order it after!"

Once Loki was taken care of for some reason she felt extremely cold, enough that she started to shiver and she knew the adrenalin was wearing off; she had almost died so she had an excuse to suddenly start to collapse until someone caught her

It took her a moment to realize it was Steve and yet another to figure out what he was saying "are you alright?" he was all that was holding her up but she dint care she was hungry and in pain and tired and cold

"just let me sleep" she heard a chuckle "let's get her back to the hellicarrier, she'll be fine" she didn't fight when Steve shifted putting one of her arms over his shoulder, she had just submitted herself to shuffling along beside him when suddenly her feet left the ground

She made a sound as he carried her but didn't complain just laid her head against his shoulder "normally I don't let guys do this till the second date" she just barely caught a glimpse of the way his cheeks heated and turned red and had half a second to think of how cute it was before the darkness finally took her.

The thoughts of 'they won' and 'captain America looked cute blushing' following her into sleep.


End file.
